Students paint murals for homeless, food pantry volunteers (Video)

Victoria East High School's Taylor Hughes, 18, stands in front of a mural she painted as part of an art in the community project at the Victoria Christian Assistance Ministry building. The works were part of the students' Texas Performance Standards Project.

The art teacher approached the Victoria alliance's food pantry earlier this year and put together a team of 22 students to paint murals for the homeless and volunteers using the facilities.

"This place deals with people in crisis and provides services including the food pantry and whatever else people's basic needs are," Coyle said. "First, we started off with one mural, but the kids finished the first one so quickly, so we moved on the the next wall and later into a hallway."

Individual, window-like paintings lined a back hallway of the area food pantry with picturesque scenes of the ocean and forests.

The students completed the series of hallway paintings and two large murals over the course of four weeks, said Coyle.

"What we were trying to do was explain to them that using their gifts for the community can be fun," Coyle said. "We did a quick study on Diego Rivera before we got started."

World-renowned artist Rivera was known for his mural work across Mexico and the United States depicting themes of revolution and class inequity.

Victoria East junior Jourdyn Montgomery, 17, said he had no idea what the modest, mirror-paned downtown building was before starting the project.

"This was my first time painting a mural," Montgomery said, standing next to a meticulously shaded, painted apple. "It felt pretty good doing something that actually matters to the community."

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IF YOU GO

WHAT: The Texas Performance Standards Project District Showcase

WHEN: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday

WHERE: Victoria Fine Arts Auditorium, 1002 Sam Houston Drive

COST: Free

'Art in the Community' team

These are the Victoria East High School students who worked on the murals as part of their Texas Performance Standards Projects required for each student taking an Advanced Placement course to complete.